Burak Bekdil
ARTICLES BY: Burak Bekdil
Turkey and Coronavirus: Conspiracy Theories and Religious Fantasy
Turkey’s fight against coronavirus (COVID-19) is generally accepted to be rational, well-timed, not too badly planned, and fairly effective. At a time when the German case...
Islamist Parties in Turkey: A Perpetual Matryoshka
The principal ideologue and leader of Islamism in Turkey was Necmettin Erbakan (1926-2011), none of whose various political parties managed to win enough of a...
Turkey and Israel: Can Pragmatism Defeat ‘Bad Blood’?
For the first time in several years, the word “Israel” is not automatically accompanied in Turkey by bold pejoratives like “baby killer” or “terrorist state.”...
The Soleimani Affair Reveals Turkey’s Directionless Regional Policy
The Turkish Foreign Ministry, which is usually quick to weigh in on matters of world affairs, was silent for hours after news broke of the...
With Friends Like Turkey’s Erdogan, Trump’s America Won’t Need Enemies
With the rise of Islamic State (ISIS) in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, Turkey became known as a “jihadist highway” that transported...
Washington and Ankara: Sweet Words, But Differences Remain
“Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool. I will call you later,” Donald Trump ended his undiplomatic letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip...
The West Tolerates Turkey Mainly Out of Fear
Turkey’s value for the West is not about the good it can offer, but the evil it might choose not to spread. In recent years,...
Turkey’s Pyrrhic Victory in Syria
Turkey’s military incursion into northeastern Syria had an ostensibly happy ending on its seventh day, with all state and non-state actors in the Syrian theater...
The Invincible Sultan: Is Erdogan Losing His Populist Charm?
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan behaves like a cornered cat when it comes to regional politics: he acts savagely and erratically, lashing out at both...
On Missile Deal, Turkey’s True Ally Is Russia, Not America
The Trump administration has offered to sell $3.5 billion worth of Patriot missiles to Turkey, apparently in an effort to stop Ankara from going ahead...
Erdogan’s Self Interest Always Comes Before His Values
Is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a devout ideologue or a pragmatist? The answer is both. Perhaps a more relevant question is: When is he...
Turkey’s Syrian Quagmire
At first glance, the plan looked viable: using the “Arab Spring” as a legitimate pretext, Turkey would convince Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign; the...
The US-Turkey Diplomatic Crisis
The current Turkish-American diplomatic crisis is fundamentally different from other such crises in 1964 or 1975. Turkish public sentiment in the 1960s and 1970s was...
Turkey: New System, Same One-Man Show
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, undoubtedly the most popular and divisive leader in modern Turkish history, has already ruled the country longer than Atatürk, the founder...
The Israeli Development That Could Produce Hundreds of Ventilators a Day
Pompeo Tweets Video of Iran’s Rouhani Saying Efforts to Lift Sanctions Due to Coronavirus Actually Intended to Enrich Regime
Did Benny Gantz Betray Israel… or Save It?
Coronavirus, God, and Science
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Praises Israeli-Palestinian Cooperation on Coronavirus